A Middlebury man charged in a February murder has refused to plead guilty after signing a plea agreement.

27-year-old Darius Thomas is accused of murdering 19-year-old Shamar Barnes.

Police found Barnes in a parking lot across from a South Main Street Gas Station with gunshot wounds to the chest. Barnes died shortly after he was taken to the hospital.

According to The Elkhart Truth, a warrant was issued for Thomas’s arrest based on security footage and witness statements. In March, he was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee where he was returned to Elkhart.

Thomas was in court last week after his attorney filed a motion to plead guilty, however Thomas told the judge he did not intend to plead guilty.

A trail date is now set for early March 2022.